Stories From the Streets: Working Together to Save Lives

Just before 11 PM on a recent Saturday night, a United Hatzalah ambulance led by Tanya Kuchar Weil was departing the emergency room parking lot at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba when its crew received an emergency alert regarding an unconscious woman in a senior residence nearby. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Tamar Greenbaum Ben Ari was volunteering at the hospital as part of United Hatzalah’s Emergency Room Relief Program and had joined the ambulance team for a lift home. Also on board were EMTs David Bader and Boaz Duchan. 

Weil flicked on the flashing lights and rushed to the woman’s residence. The ambulance team, including Ben Ari, rushed inside and was directed to the room of the collapsed woman. 

United Hatzalah Muslim volunteers Dima Varda, from Taibe, and Maher Atamni, from Baqa al- Gharbiyye, were already at the scene and had initiated CPR.

Weil’s team joined the efforts of Varda and Atamni, alternating compressions and assisted ventilation. The team kept up their resuscitative efforts for quite some time. When the mobile intensive care ambulance arrived, its crew also joined the effort to save the woman’s life, administering medications to assist the CPR effort and try to bring the woman’s pulse back. 

After more than an hour of combined effort, the team finally succeeded in bringing the woman’s pulse back. Once she was stable enough, she was transported to the hospital in the mobile intensive care ambulance. Ben Ari joined the ambulance team for the transport to help treat the patient en route. 

“We worked together terrifically as a team,” Ben Ari said. “The mobile intensive care ambulance team asked me to join, as they had come from a different city and didn’t know the ins and outs of the hospital well. I was happy to join, and when we arrived I connected the patient with the ER team to make sure she got the fastest treatment possible.”

Varda added, “I was in Kfar Saba shopping, and there were three emergencies one after the other. I was happy to be part of such an incredible lifesaving team. We all worked together so well, the first responders and both ambulances, and we gave this woman the best chance at survival we could. I am proud to have been a part of it.” 

“Tamar is an amazing volunteer,” Weil said. “She stayed with us after a long shift in the emergency room for the entirety of the CPR and then returned to the emergency room with the ambulance, even though it was past midnight and her birthday. Her self-sacrifice to help others is incredible. The same thing holds true for both Dima and Maher, who, in spite of being from other cities, participated in the lengthy CPR before returning home. Working together with a team of such dedicated volunteers, Jewish and Muslim alike, is really inspiring for me, and I am proud to be a part of it.” 

Raphael Poch is the international media spokesperson for United Hatzalah.